Chapter 25 Meeting Yes, there's a shortage of money.

A small hand lifted the carriage curtain, and the little girl peeked out, looking at the increasingly steep official road and the ever-growing number of mountains on both sides. She exclaimed "Wow!" and asked the man driving the carriage, "Uncle Liang, how much longer until we reach Yunhe?"

Uncle Liang smiled kindly, "At our current pace, we'll arrive in about half a month."

The little girl sighed softly, "It's going to be such a long walk. I'm so tired."

Uncle Liang comforted her, "The brothers who went ahead to scout said there are more than a dozen wild chestnut trees halfway up this mountain. When we get there, we can pick chestnuts. These wild chestnuts are delicious."

The little girl immediately perked up, her face lighting up with anticipation. "Okay! Uncle Liang, let's hurry!"

Uncle Liang laughed heartily, “That won’t do, we’re going up the mountain right now. You go sit in the car and wait for us until we get there.”

The little girl hummed twice and sat back in the carriage. Her second sister was staring blankly at the map in her hand.

The little girl quickly moved closer, snuggling up to her second sister affectionately and asking, "Second sister, what are you thinking about?"

Her second sister snapped out of her reverie, gently patted her head, and smiled, "I'm thinking about what kind of congratulatory gift to give the goddess."

The little boy sitting in the carriage was quite surprised. "You're preparing a gift too?"

Along their journey, the second young lady, relying on the fact that she had carried most of the Yun family's money and provisions (she disposed of what she couldn't take), took in several hundred refugees and led them to Yunhe County to seek refuge with the goddess.

He thought the Second Miss intended to use the Yun family's money and grain, along with these hundreds of people, as a congratulatory gift to the goddess. Why did the Second Miss... feel it wasn't enough?

The second young lady smiled gently and answered affirmatively, "Yes."

The closer she got to Yunhe County, the more news she heard about the goddess, and the more she learned about the current situation in Yunhe County.

Although it seems unbelievable, Yunhe has the potential to develop into a force to be reckoned with, and it appears that Yunhe does indeed have that intention.

And then there's that goddess... The second young lady recalled the majestic figure of her savior and became even more determined in her thoughts: the goddess is extraordinary, so what's wrong with defying the world?

Her finger traced across the map, landing on a particular area, and she tapped it lightly.

The girl's lips curled up in a smile.

Winter is approaching, and the five counties of Yunhe must be short of coal.

Yunhe County.

"Shall we put on a show?"

At the morning meeting of the administrative office, everyone stared in surprise at the confident Mo Jingchun.

Having already entered about ten questions on event organization, Mo Jingchun stood tall and said confidently, "That's right, the Goddess has arranged a chorus performance for Qinglan Academy. My idea is that each of our departments should also put on a performance."

She thought for a moment and explained, "It doesn't matter what kind of program it is, whether it's singing, dancing, boxing, or magic tricks, everyone can come up with whatever they want. The Harvest Festival, the Harvest Festival, is mainly about making the participants happy."

The group looked at each other.

Aunt Feng from the teahouse laughed first, "I think our teahouse could give everyone a demonstration of tea brewing?"

Seeing that someone was interested, Mo Jingchun's eyes lit up, and she nodded vigorously, "Yes, yes, that's perfect, it's a good opportunity to promote our tea to everyone."

Zhang Yiwen from the firearms workshop suddenly remembered an old man in their workshop who loved to sing opera, so he volunteered, "Then let's put on an opera in our firearms workshop. I'll go back and ask him what it's about." He handed the task over directly to the old man and asked him to recruit people to form a group.

Upon hearing this suggestion, Li Ping from the Stone Tool Workshop laughed heartily and said, "Let's have a lion dance performance from our Stone Tool Workshop. It's not difficult, and it looks great when it's done."

Everyone cooperated well.

After all, this was a harvest festival specially arranged by the goddess, and they wanted to do it well to please her.

Mo Jingchun was deeply moved, and she wrote it down on a piece of paper.

“Oh right,” Mo Jingchun looked up at Huang Dade, the new head of the city guard team, “Uncle Huang, could you lend me some people? I need to maintain order at the event site during the Harvest Festival.”

Huang Dade wasn't surprised when Mo Jingchun used words he'd never heard before. He nodded in agreement, "I'll assign you a squad."

"Thank you, Uncle Huang!" Mo Jingchun then looked at Doctor Xu. "Uncle Xu, please also assign a few people to me and prepare some medicinal soup so that we can provide timely assistance if anyone suddenly falls ill on site."

Dr. Xu hadn't expected to have anything to do with himself, but Mo Jingchun's words made a lot of sense, so he agreed, "Okay."

Cheng Hui found it strange that Mo Yatou had spent the whole day in the library yesterday and actually found a useful book?

He asked it casually.

Mo Jingchun proudly showed off the practice booklet the goddess had given him, saying, "I think you should all take a look at this book. It really teaches us how to conduct research and how to handle unexpected situations."

"Well..." Mo Jingchun rolled her eyes inwardly. The answers to interpersonal relationship problems in this book all focused on making oneself suffer losses. The main idea was to find excuses for others and blame oneself first. How could this be? She couldn't understand it. Perhaps this was the nature of officialdom?

Fang Qin stroked his beard and smiled slowly, "The goddess really is something, she has all kinds of books."

"So I think, perhaps we've held the goddess back." Xiang Yuesheng spread his hands.

Zhao Yong, who was in charge of bookkeeping, covered his face in anguish, "Don't remind me of this!"

Xiang Yuesheng: "...I'm sorry."

Cheng Hui offered Zhao Yong a few words of encouragement, then turned to Zhu Youchuan and asked, "How's your progress?"

Zhu Youchuan pretended to wave his fan, "Our first draft will be released soon. I will show it to the Goddess first and hear her opinion." Then we will revise it according to her opinion and discuss it at the administrative meeting.

Cheng Hui nodded, "Okay."

Ning Huai'an leaned back in his chair and suddenly asked, "Have you thought about when we'll move into the prefectural government?"

Everyone: ?

Qin Dongkui stared at him, "What...do you mean by this?"

“Our prefect of Anling County hasn’t fled. If we want Anling County, it means we’ll have to clash with the county government,” Cheng Hui said calmly.

Fang Qin chuckled, "A conflict was bound to happen sooner or later."

Zhu Youchuan became interested and said, "That's right, five counties are still too small. There aren't enough people, enough supplies, and enough markets."

Upon hearing Zhu Youchuan's words, Zhao Yong sat up straight. "Little Zhu is right. We've harvested a lot of grain, and there's a demand for it locally. However, because the goddess provides three meals a day, our need for grain is limited, and we'll have some left over. That's what we need..."

"Buying and selling," said Wang Heren of the ironware workshop.

Zhao Yong nodded, "Yes, that's the market that Xiao Zhu was talking about."

Gu Lanying tapped her fingers unconsciously on the table. She said, "Taking Anling County is indeed only a matter of time, but for now, we still need to complete the autumn planting and get through this winter."

Qian Shiwen said helplessly, "We need money to get through the winter."

Zhao Yong couldn't help but sigh, "Money..."

Ning Huai'an steered the conversation back on track, "Of course I don't want to attack the prefecture right now, but I think we should have this plan."

He wants to put this matter out in the open and make it clear so that everyone can reach a consensus.

Zhu Youchuan waved his fan, "Why don't we go and ask the goddess?"

Ning Huai'an shrugged. "The goddess told us to decide for ourselves." He had already asked her, of course.

Zhu Youchuan: "..." He asked in surprise, "The goddess actually..." didn't give a direct answer?

Cheng Hui asked Zhang Yiwen of the firearms workshop and Guo Qian of the armory, "How are your weapons and firearms being made?"

Zhang Yiwen and Guo Qian exchanged a glance, then both revealed mysterious smiles. Zhang Yiwen said, "After the meeting, I'll show you our fireball."

Guo Qian said, "If we can mass-produce them, taking Anling County shouldn't be a problem. But..."

"Are you short of money?" Zhao Yong asked.

Guo Qian gave him an affirmative look, "Yes, we lack materials, which is equivalent to lacking money."

The topic has come back to normal. Cheng Hui: "..." Headache.

Meanwhile, He Qinglan was lying on the roof of Qinglan Academy listening to the children read aloud. The children's innocent voices recited in unison, "Once, Mencius' mother chose a good neighborhood. When her son did not study, she cut the threads of her loom." [1]

The system exploded in her mind: [You've rested for too long! We should unlock new dishes!]

System: [This braised fish is delicious, wouldn't you like to try some?]

He Qinglan: [Is it that I don't want to try it? Is it that I don't want to unlock it?]

System: [But if you don't try, you'll never unlock it!]

He Qinglan: [Don't worry, I'll unlock it sooner or later.]

System: [Sooner or later?!]

He Qinglan gazed at the gray sky and said softly, "For now, three dishes and a soup are enough. We'll work on unlocking five dishes and a soup when we get to Anling County."

The system was puzzled. "Go to Anling County?"

He Qinglan raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? Famous throughout the country? Wasn't that what you asked of me when I first came to this world?"

System: [Does my nationwide fame and your nationwide fame mean the same thing?]

He Qinglan: [That's not important. What's important is to get to Anling County first.]

Her friends gave her many things, but unfortunately, she couldn't use them right now.

Five counties are still too small a territory.

Although people come to seek refuge every day, there are still too few of them.

He Qinglan did some quick calculations with her fingers.

...Huh?

She sat up abruptly, squinting her eyes: How touching, finally someone's going to stir up trouble.

After arriving in this world, everything went smoothly. The people who came to her aid were very obedient, and no one disobeyed her. She couldn't help but start to doubt humanity.

Thankfully, the humans in this world are real humans, not NPCs from a game, otherwise it would be so boring.

He Qinglan glanced in the direction of the administration office, thinking to herself that those guys must be having a tough time.

She slowly lay back down on the tile.

The system, oblivious to her emotional shift, continued to try and persuade her, saying, "Why wait until we reach Anling County to unlock things? Let's start now, one step at a time."

He Qinglan: [Do you know how to unlock Buddha Jumps Over the Wall? Do you know how to unlock Braised Shrimp? Do you know how to unlock Braised Lion's Head Meatballs?]

He Qinglan: [You don't know. If you can't provide a guide, then shut up.]

System: [...] Aaaaaaaah!

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Author's note: [1] Three Character Classic

The unexpected turn of events that He Qinglan had foreseen came very quickly.

It was a dark and windy night.

Most of the people slept peacefully.

An old man in his fifties led about ten people in singing opera, demonstrating hand and foot movements as he sang.

The young teacher and his elderly mentor played chess while discussing the children's studies.

The parents, returning home late, covered their child with a blanket and tiptoed out of the room.

The middle-aged couple, unable to sleep, were discussing what gifts to bring when they went to a relative's house for a banquet in a few days.

The night watchman carried a lantern and a gong as he walked through the streets and alleys.

The night wind blew, stirring up a cloud of dust.

Zhu Youchuan put down his pen, staring with satisfaction at the fruits of his labor over the past few days, imagining what the goddess would look like when she saw it tomorrow.

Xue Guizhi, who was lying on the bed, turned over and thought to herself, "Our laundry is full of girls. We could totally put together a dance. I'll ask them who knows how to dance tomorrow."

Guo Qian recalled the expressions on everyone's faces when they saw their fireball explode during the day, and he was so excited that he couldn't sleep: If only we could combine fireballs and catapults someday!

By the dim candlelight, Xiang Yuesheng continued to peruse military books, occasionally frowning in deep thought, and writing something on a piece of paper.

Qiu Tang walked around the room with her hands behind her back, reciting the Three Character Classic she had recently learned.

Unbeknownst to them, a group of people armed with sharp weapons secretly arrived at the largest granary in Yunhe County, swiftly killed the guards, and then smashed the lock to open the granary door.

These people were very excited as they looked at the various agricultural products piled up like small mountains, as if they saw gold and silver beckoning to them.

The leader said warily, "Hurry up and move it! Liu Laosan and the others will meet us at the west gate. Everyone, quickly load the grain onto the carts, and we'll exit directly through the west gate!"

The group responded, "Yes!"

Agricultural products were roughly stuffed into bags and bamboo baskets, some spilled on the ground, and some were damaged and carelessly thrown aside.

These people hurriedly carried most of the goods out, loaded them onto vehicles, and headed towards the west gate.

The leader looked at the fully loaded trucks with great satisfaction.

He said, "Let's get out of here quickly, or we'll be in trouble if we're discovered."

Some people were quite smug, saying, "What's there to be afraid of? Nobody knows we're going to steal grain. The city guards won't be able to get here in time. By the time they arrive, we'll have already left Yunhe."

"Be careful, the goddess... she's a bit strange." The person who said this couldn't help but tremble.

"Goddess...no, no way?"

"Stop talking, let's go!"

A somewhat eerie goddess sat on a dark cloud floating in the sky, calmly watching the group push their carts straight toward the west gate.

The system asked in surprise, "Aren't you going to stop it?"

He Qinglan snapped her fingers.

A loudspeaker appeared out of nowhere.

She made a forward motion with her right index finger, and the megaphone flew towards the west gate.

system:【……】

System: [I don't understand. Since you knew they were going to betray you, why didn't you stop them beforehand?]

He Qinglan said, "I'm not a feudal patriarch who does everything himself."

system:【? ? ​​? 】

Seriously? Are you out of your mind? Haven't you taken care of enough things by now? And now you're saying you're not a feudal patriarch?

He Qinglan's eyes darkened.

You can't teach someone by just talking; you can learn something by doing. Good parents are willing to let their children get up on their own after they fall down.

People near the west gate heard a shrill female voice in their sleep.

"What happened?"

Who's calling?

"What's all the noise about so late at night?"

"Huh? A thief??"

"Master, get up quickly! A thief is stealing our grain!"

"Stealing grain???"

One household after another lit candles.

Men and women put on their clothes and opened the door.

Before long, the men grabbed their weapons and went out together, running towards the loudspeaker.

The women discussed setting off to inform the city guards and the administrative offices.

Liu Laosan and his men, who were guarding the west gate, ambushed the city guards, opened the gate, and waited for the grain thieves to come so they could leave together.

Suddenly, a shrill female voice rang out in the night sky, repeatedly shouting that a thief was stealing grain.

The group of people's expressions changed drastically in an instant.

"Who discovered that we were trying to steal our grain?"

Who's calling?

"The sound came from the air!"

"Could it be that the goddess has discovered our betrayal?"

"She...she...she...she...she..."

"No way?"

"Oh no! What if we alert the city guards and the army..."

Old Liu shouted, stopping the noise.

He gritted his teeth and said fiercely, "Why run! We're going to die anyway if we get caught, so we might as well risk it all!"

"you mean……"

"Support Cai Jin and the others, then break out!"

"But……"

"No buts! Have you forgotten what the Prefect's men promised us? Fight our way out! As long as we fight our way out, we can go to Anling County to enjoy a life of luxury!" Liu Laosan's eyes flashed with ferocity.

Huang Dade, the leader of the city guard team, was shaken awake from his sleep. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw his wife looking anxious. "Something's happened! Get up quickly, your fourth brother is waiting for you outside!"

Huang Dade: "?"

Although puzzled, he still got out of bed, took the clothes his wife handed him, put them on, and went out while putting on his shoes.

His fourth brother, Huang Daren, was standing at the door. As soon as he saw him, he came up to him and said, "Second brother, the city guards have come to report that someone is stealing grain!"

Huang Dade jolted awake, instantly becoming fully alert.

He exclaimed in disbelief, "What???"

Huang Daren said urgently, "Let's go, Second Brother, some people have already gone there!"

Huang Dade's expression was grave. "Let's go!"

Everyone in the administrative office was called up one after another.

No one could believe what they had heard, and they checked the news again and again.

Gu Lanying sighed deeply, hoping that the goddess would not be disappointed in them because of this.

Qin Dongkui picked up a hoe from in front of the house and went outside.

Li Yan told his family to stay at home, and he went next door to call Li Ping to go to the west gate together.

Wang Heren rubbed his temples, intending to find Cheng Hui first.

The Huang brothers were the first to arrive.

The residents living near the West Gate have already started fighting with Liu Laosan and his gang.

The sounds of fighting, shouting, and clashing weapons were incessant.

People were constantly getting injured and falling to the ground.

With a dark expression, Huang Dade ordered the city guards to step forward and help the people subdue the villains.

Ning Huai'an and Hu Dazhu arrived in the second group. After greeting Huang Dade, Hu Dazhu said in a deep voice, "You keep an eye on things here. We'll take some men to catch the group that stole the grain!"

Huang Dade nodded, "Okay, you can go ahead!"

Ning Huai'an and Hu Dazhu discussed it in hushed tones. Ning Huai'an led his men out of the city, while Hu Dazhu led his men toward the granary.

Cheng Hui and others arrived one after another.

I discussed the current situation with Huang Dade.

Zhu Youchuan asked, "Has this matter been reported to the Goddess?"

Huang Dade nodded. "The goddess said to leave it to us to handle."

Mo Jingchun's face darkened. "Are our people trying to steal grain to sell? Or is someone colluding with our people to smuggle grain?"

Huang Dade closed his eyes. "Someone is colluding with them."

"Damn it!" Xue Guizhi gritted her teeth.

Cheng Hui remained calm, saying, "Wealth can be a powerful motivator; you can't expect everyone to be content with the status quo." The goddess was very kind to them, but some people were greedy and could never be satisfied.

Qian Shiwen sighed, "That's right, this won't be the first time, nor will it be the last. Everyone should be mentally prepared."

Xiang Yuesheng said coldly, "We will definitely strengthen management from now on." He had heard the phrase "strengthen management" from Mo Jingchun.

All eyes turned to Zhu Youchuan, whose brows furrowed. "Don't worry, the traitor will pay the price," he gritted his teeth. "I'll make an example of him!"

The rooster crowed three times.

The sky gradually brightened.

The mountain peaks in the distance are shrouded in mist, while water droplets fall from the branches of nearby trees in the wind.

Those who were waiting to meet the grain not far outside Yunhe County, those who were guarding the city gate, and those who were smuggling grain were all subdued and arrested by the city guards and the military camp, and brought to the square outside the county government office.

They were interrogated separately.

The injured were taken to a clinic for treatment.

The bodies of the deceased were transported outside the city for burial.

Some people stayed at the West Gate to clean up the "battlefield".

Others took winnowing baskets and picked up the spilled agricultural products one by one, returning them to the granary.

9:00 AM (巳时).

Huang Dade came to report to He Qinglan: "...Cai Jin, Liu Laosan and others were bribed by people sent by the Anling County government to steal our grain to Anling County."

"The other party promised to give them money."

“Because… we discovered it early,” Huang Dade said, glancing at He Qinglan, “they failed to transport the grain out of the city, and now we have captured them all and recovered all the grain.” However, there must have been some losses.

He was silent for a moment, then continued, "That night, six people died and twenty-one were injured."

"It was our fault. Our city guard team failed to assign someone to guard the granary or to strengthen nighttime patrols within the city. We are willing to accept the punishment!"

He Qinglan remained calm as she asked, "The people from Anling County contacted them, only wanting to steal our grain, but aren't they planning to attack us from within?"

Huang Dade was taken aback by these words. He was puzzled and tentatively asked, "You mean..."

“I didn’t mean anything by it,” He Qinglan said calmly, looking at him. “I was just curious.”

The truth is that the Anling County government originally intended to collude with the people of Yunhe County to seize Yunhe and the Goddess in one fell swoop.

However, the people in the prefecture were not of one mind. Some people knew that the five counties of Yunhe had just had a bumper harvest, so they bribed people in advance to smuggle grain, so that if the Anling army came to attack in the future, everything would fall into the hands of the prefecture and they would get nothing.

Human nature.

However, this is the version that He Qinglan is familiar with. The people here have been too well-behaved lately.

Huang Dade clasped his hands in a respectful gesture and said, "We will continue our investigation and will definitely get to the bottom of this. Please rest assured!"

He Qinglan nodded and said, "Learn from this lesson and strengthen our defenses. Enemies are never just external."

Huang Dade lowered his head even further, "Yes!"

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The author's note: While doing a test, I came across the phrase "Aspire to great things, cultivate great virtues, achieve great talent, and shoulder great responsibilities," and it suddenly occurred to me that I could use it as a name. Thus, the four Huang brothers came to be.